Category: Grell’s Games

Friday, July 14th 1995 starts out in a bit of a haze for the five seemingly random strangers all visited by a mysterious industrial-goth guardian angel the night before. Parker decides that though it may not be his normal style, if there are going to be deranged mages after him he should have some protection. A shotgun and a saw later, he finds himself with a capable, if illegal,means of protection. Elizabeth decides that a taser is the safest option for a woman in her position. Both of them waffle on meeting at the mysterious address given to them by Tegan the night before.

Sandra, with little else to do and more questions than answers, decides to walk from her apartment in Southside to the address that she discovers is across the city and on Alba, AKA Crackhead Island.

When Nicole wakes up she discovers that last night was definitely not a strange dream. The sharpie on her hand gives her the address to meet, and more curious than cautious, she sets off in the early afternoon on her bike, taking a scenic ride through the city toward her destination.

Given that Parker not only has the time, but also the instinct of an investigator, after arming himself he heads to the address. Driving through the recent Government Projects that have sprung up on the north end of the island gives him a certain sense of caution, but as he continues toward his destination he discovers that as he passes the current building projects and low income housing, there are large swaths of land, scenic forest flanking the long island road. He comes to his destination, finding a well hewn fence of limestone, a wrought iron gate leading to a mansion that were it not for the neglect and obvious fire damage, would be one of the most immaculate he’s ever seen. Curious as to why the girl would send him here, he takes his time walking the perimeter of the gated property, only to find it is massive.

Caledonia is the city where most of the game will take place. The home base of the campaign, as it were. Sure, your adventures may take you elsewhere, but Caledonia is the place you call home.

Like many cities in the 1990s, Caledonia is built on the past and looking toward the future. It is sprawling and diverse, with its own inner workings, politics and culture. It is a microcosm of the world around it, and a place that the characters will help bring to life!

Wednesday, July 12th 1995 in Caledonia starts out like so many others. It is a pleasant mid-summer day, Caledonian adults go about their normal business, while Caledonian kids enjoy a lazy afternoon during their summer vacation.

Elizabeth Falls is a career woman, head of her specific R&D department at Acheron Industries. She clicks through slide after slide, careful to avoid the word ‘synergy’ no matter how many times it pops up on the corporate approved slides. Today she is walking a new team through what is expected of them working not only under her management, but also for Acheron. Her assistant manager Gregg concludes the meeting and leads the new team on while Elizabeth gets to work on a mountain of paper work. It looks like it’ll be a long few nights.

Parker Chea is a private investigator and street running enthusiast, who mixes his passion with work to provide for himself and help out his family. While waiting on a page about one of his current investigations, someone cheating on someone, he can’t even remember which spouse is cheating any more, he decides to catch up on some training at one of Caledonia’s premiere fitness centres. It is there that a guy strikes up a conversation with him, complementing him on his street running and chatting a little while they both catch their breath between exercises. A beep from the pager cuts the conversation short, as Parker heads out for another night of hiding in alleyways taking picture for spouses.

Nicole Farris is getting ready to play a mid-week gig at Charlie’s Place, a not so underground underground club on Main Street in Maxwell. Her band, Maelstrom, has been having some issues with drummer Dan, who has been showing up to gigs drunk, and not showing up to rehearsals at all. Tonight isn’t much different, Dan’s already pregamed, and though he swears he’s good to go because he’s “Keith fuckin’ Moon!”, he can’t seem to keep a hold of his drumsticks. A heated argument between Nicole and Dan ends when Jake, the bassist, jumps in and breaks it up, telling Dan to sober up before the gig, and leading Nicole off to cool down. Despite the rough start, the band has a good night.

Sandra “Fireclaw”, so named for her mean right hook, spends a quiet Wednesday afternoon hanging out and working out at Noice Park before getting some greasy though amazingly good lunch from Meatcher Street Bazaar. A bit of an outsider since her life went south, she’s been making a meager living off of underground cage fighting in Southside while continuing to live off of the savings her parents left her. Her boring week perks up when she gets home and receives a call from “The Boss”, one of the men who sets up the fights. It’s short notice, and sketchy, but the money is too good to pass up. Besides, she didn’t have any other plans for tomorrow night anyway.

Dante Edwards always has trouble sleeping around this time of year. Tomorrow will be eleven years since his life completely changed, but he tries desperately to put it out of his mind and focus on work. Today he’s meeting some clients at Caledonia Park, to scope out the surroundings for ideal wedding photography. While the bride to be trusts the professional’s opinions on scenery, no location, no angle, no exposure is good enough for groomzilla. An hour turns into two, into three while he tries to appease the finicky, dramatic groom. Finally agreeing on the plan, the soon to be married couple goes on their way while Dante heads home. Before he leaves the park, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he sees nothing around. Must be the time of year.

Yusif ibn-Ahmed, the eccentric merchant who lives in Estoque, seeks the party of intrepid adventurers early in the morning after the night of the large celebration. He asks them if, though he knows they have their own destination, they’d be willing to help him. He is headed out to the small shepherding village of Tillo, not the very north-western boarder of Saragón, to escort a Noblewoman to Torre de Manzanas. Before he can even really try to sweeten the deal, the Honourbound Dreigh offers the group’s help.

Through the plains, the terrain starts to turn into gently rolling hills. One night, before getting to the village, the small caravan makes camp just off the trade path, in the shadow of a hill that has a strange henge-like structure. It is on this night that Roen’Thagur, during his watch, spies a a mysterious black unicorn. Before he can really investigate, it seems to blink out of existence. He keeps it in his back pocket for the time being and, after the rest of them wake, the caravan makes their way to the village of Tillo.

The village easily has more sheep than people and, aside from an inn, the only real source of merchandise is travelling caravans making stops to the remote village. However, the village is all abuzz with some strange recent happenings. It seems that a young shepherd named Kurt Charbonnier went missing some nights ago when he passed his sheep through the henge trying to save some time. (Normally, the shepherds in the area steer clear of the mysterious place!) And since he hasn’t returned, villagers and travellers alike have seen all manner of strange creature out by the henge. Including a black unicorn! This piques Roen’s interest, and he presses some of the villagers for information.

Meanwhile the rest of the party explore the small village square, through the various caravans stopped. Yusif ibn-Ahmed introduces the Noblewoman, Queláni d’Elvina, to Dreigh, and soon thereafter to Roen, Roxy and Dren once they are all rounded up. Meeting the Noblewoman is difficult for Dreigh, for on one hand Queláni is an absolutely beautiful half-elven woman, on the other hand, Kyrosh d’Elvina was one of Dreigh’s close friends and a comrade in arms. One of the Honourbound to die in the betrayal by Kyorl. Unsure how to act, Dreigh only expresses the utmost respect toward the woman, while keeping his distance. Although Kyrosh was human, there is a definite family resemblance, though Kyrosh never mentioned a sister or noble birth! However aloof Dreigh wishes to remain, the Noblewoman makes a beeline for him immediately. She recognizes that he is an Honourbound and, though he seems not to be travelling with his comrades, he none the less has an Inheritor and two adventurers with him. She asks that he and his group help the villagers. When they agree to after delivering her, she insists that Don Luis is capable of waiting, and that this is of the utmost importance!

After gathering a little more information from the locals, the group head to the strange circle of stones, about a mile outside the village proper, to begin their investigation.Upon reaching the circle, they find the Devil’s Step, mentioned by one of the locals, and soon find their way to a recently uncovered set of stone stairs leading deep into the earth. Light on provisions, the group has to return to Tillo to find torches and some other random exploration gear. A merchant also sells Roen a fancy belt, which he gifts to Dreigh. No one is interested in the Merchant’s supposed flying carpet, however.

Now properly outfitted for a subterranean adventure, the party heads down the long, winding staircase. They find themselves in a room filled with blue smoke, so thick that they cannot see more than a few feet in front of them! Groping around, they discover a trap! The four of them fall, each narrowly missing spikes in the heart of the pit. It seems Kurt Charbonnier was not as lucky. The party get out of the pit and find there is a door, fashioned like a dragon, spewing the blue smoke. Roxy attempts to use her legacy to pass through, but a magic barrier prevents her attempt. The door, upset by the attempted trespass, spews a green, poisonous fog. Only Dren, the elf archer, was far away enough to not inhale a small amount. His luck turns south quickly, though, as he finds himself stabbed by something in the dark! Two arrows loosed bring the assailant down, and the party find themselves face to face with a strange, pallid creature that looks almost like a cross between a human and a spider. He was holding a dagger fashioned from a large, single tooth.

Unsure what to do next, the party find a few doors. One set is locked, though not magically. Another leads to a small hallway covered in a thick white webbing. Curious, Roxy attempts to cut through some of the webbing, but finds herself stuck! Two more creatures resembling the stabby creature in the previous room emerge from the webbing, chitting and pressing swords into Roxy’s neck. The language barrier is soon broken when, after setting some weapons down and relieving Roxy of her sabre, another of the creatures exits the webbing. This one speaks some of the surface language, though not much. He convinces the party to stand down and asks that they talk to the leader of the creature. Curiously, Dren is forced to stay behind. Called a word none of the party knows, “drow“, the creatures clearly do not trust the one with pointy ears.

The party is brought through a few rooms, carefully guided through the webbing, until they are brought to Uelwen, the leader. To either side of her are massive spiders that seem to follow her command. She explains that she and the other Chitines are refugees, escaped slaves. Through the discussion, they learn that the race called drow are their slavers, and the chitine guards mistook Drn for one of them. They also explain that though they are not looking for a fight, their original leader, Caullum, is. He’s become obsessed with a stone he found, and has been gathering other chitines for reasons she doesn’t entirely know. She asks that the adventurers help her and her people, some thirty chitines in all, find a new home on the surface world. The party is unsure they can help, so ask that she wait and they be allowed to gather their Noble friend who has a better idea of where they could stay. Roen and Dren stay behind while Dreigh and Roxy gather Queláni for assistance. She is willing to help them move through Saragón territory, to a place in Bosque de las Sombras that is secluded enough for them to have their own place, but also still within the Barrier. Together with Queláni, the adventurers and the entire community of chitines make their journey. It takes a few days, and in that time, the adventurers and the Noblewoman learn of the chitines, and the chitines learn of the surface world. The party is also surprized to discover that Queláni can cook.

Saying their farewells, the party leaves the chitines to found their new home, while they make their return trek to Tillo. The journey will take less time with such a smaller group. One night into the journey back, the camp is attacked by bandits! Dreigh, having been on watch, makes quick work of two of them so precisely that one of the bandits pees himself and runs. The others try to take him, but Dren and Roen help out. Strangely, Roxy manages to sleep through the entire encounter. When the battle ends, the bandit who tried to run is sleeping. Perhaps some sorcery has placed him in that state, but with Roxy now awoken, they adventurers tie him up and try to interrogate him. He isn’t forthcoming with information other than they thought the camp was an easy mark. While Dren is on watch, the bandit tries to get away, but an arrow make quicker work of him than taking him back to Tillo for trial would have.

The party return to the village early in the morning with time to get a hot meal. Dreigh has an uncomfortable conversation with Queláni, wherein he reveals that only he and the one who betrayed the order survived the attack on his band of Honourbound. She thanks him for the information and excuses herself back to her room. Unsure how to proceed, he gathers the rest of the party and they make their return to the henge, hoping to at least get to the bottom of the compounding mysteries below.

What is Magus Mundi? Magus Mundi is a roleplaying game that uses Green Ronin’s Modern AGE system, with added content from the Fantasy AGE companion.

Magus Mundi is a game that takes place in a world close to our own, but slightly different. Through the looking glass, into an Earth of the 1990s where Mages and Magic exist alongside Monsters of Ancient Legend and Cryptids of Modern Lore. All existing just below the surface of a world that is about to have definitive proof that the arcane exists!

But to put a finer point on it, the game takes place just as the Player Characters are learning that there is a magical world just beneath the mundane. The PCs still have day jobs and obligations, family and friends. But they’ve just been thrust into a world they’ve only dreamed about.

Although the game is set in an Urban Fantasy version of Earth, Magus Mundi games are centered in the city of Caledonia, a fictional and deliberately ambiguously placed modern city somewhere in America (or possibly Canada).

The game will take place with the PCs starting as mundane people, unaware of a magical world (totes not cliché), when something happens and they find themselves awakened to the magical world around them, and thrust into a battle they never knew existed. But of course their mundane lives don’t go away, so they have to balance their jobs, family and so on against their new abilities. They’ll have a mentor, some mystical aid that will help them learn to control and use their new found powers in a war against probably Necromancers!

I’ll be posting updates on the setting regularly, and you can look forward to house rules and actual play soon!

A band of friends, travelling to the town of Escudo in Saragón, stop for the evening in the insular, Ylari town of Estoque some few miles from their destination. They’ve been travelling a while and, with evening turning to night, this small village seems as good as any place to stay. Draigh Veloci the human honourbound fighter, Roen’Thagur the tortle Inheritor and priest of Mother Ocean, Roxy the rakasta swashbuckler bard and Dren Ramos Salazar the elf beastrider archer (fighter), four adventurers in all, visit the only inn in this small town. To their surprize,they are not the only adventurers in the inn this evening. A large party, sent out bu Don Luis de Manzanas himself are currently waiting on their food. Of the twelve patrons aside from the party, only one, an elderly human man named Abdullah, is native to the town.

Abdullah calls the adventurers over, and tell mostly Roen and Dren the story of the town’s most precious item, a Jade Hare. According to the old man, the Jade Hare protects Estoque, much as the Barrier Mask protects Saragón. He invites them to come to the museum in town (his house), to see the hare tomorrow, before drifting off to sleep for a while at the bar.

The leader of the Don’s party, Maria Cordoba, invited the wayward adventurers to dine with them, as the large party has already ordered almost all of the inn’s food anyway. Delicacies of Ylari treated turkey, wild rice, and a mixture of native and imported vegetables sate the two adventuring parties while they chat over dinner. The Don’s party is on a mission to find an artifact, and although Maria cannot conscript them herself, she offers that if they’re interested, they should attempt to make contact with the Don. A young man named Orlando recognizes Draigh’s crest and asks if he’s honourbound. Learning that he is, he attempts to set up a duel between Maria and Roxy, though Maria insists they won’t have the time right now, much to Orlando’s dismay.

ibn Ali, the inn keeper, does his best to see to the comfort of the patrons, but most of the adventurers have to sleep on the floor, as it is clear that the inn isn’t large enough to handle such a large crowd. The early morning sees the Don’s party leave, and our intrepid adventurers having time to bathe, eat and, they expect, continue on their way. After stopping in to the museum to see the fabled Jade Hare, of course. Their plans are suddenly upended when a panicked Abdullah bursts into the inn, exasperatedly shouting “they’ve stolen the Jade Hare!” It’s apparent immediately who’s taken it. A band of goblins prowls the town. The adventurers spring into action to rescue the Jade Hare, but are stopped by some goblins before they can intercept the lead!

After felling the goblin foes, the group look to their tracker to find where the goblins took the Jade Hare, but it turns out Dren is more a tracker in theory than in practice. Thankfully, with the aid of Roen’Thagur’s far sight legacy, they managed to stay in the right direction for some time. As luck would have it, when they lost the trail, they found a merchant named Yusif ibn Ahmad, an animated man prone to falling to his knees and praising or cursing al-Kalim, depending on the news. Upon hearing the precious Jade Hare was stolen, he eagerly offers information regarding a cave where a sorcerer lives, who also has goblin guards. “Likely unrelated.”

The adventurers take no time getting to the cave, and there they find a large entrance full of bats! Wading their way through the mass of angry bats, the group presses inward to find a cave that quickly becomes a well hewn headquarters for the mysterious mage. Inside the hidden hideout, the adventurers encounter goblins, an ill-tempered hobgoblin chef, a goblin and his pet spiders, and two ghouls resting under bags of old millet, who paralyze and almost end the young life of Dren. The goblin barracks proves difficult, but the final meeting with the sorcerer and his bugbear bodyguard Balgoruk provesnearly deadly! The sorcerer is ready for the adventurers, immediately hitting them with a spell that paralyzes everyone save for the elven archer. A chance to turn the tides and perhaps save his friends is passed up in favour of shooting arrows at Balgoruk and showboating, causing the bugbear to run around the cave to come up behind the archer. The sorcerer, in the meantime, casts spell after spell to harm the party and protect himself. Balgoruk’s ax nearly splits Dren in twain, causing the terrified archer to throw millet at the bugbear’s chest and run away. So angry with the disrespect, Balgoruk punches Dren in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. But Roen takes the opportunity to fell the bugbear with his red steel mace. Roxy tends to the fallen Dren, making sure he doesn’t die, while Draigh steps into engage the sorcerer. A mirror image spell makes Draigh’s mighty swings all but pointless, but the sorcerer, feeling that a single tap would end his life, disappears and runs off to collect hit things, using invisibility to hopefully escape. Draigh’s war cry legacy stops the invisible sorcerer in his tracks, and a wild, lucky swing finds the sorcerer cut in half!

The room the sorcerer retreated to is an alchemy lab of sorts. There, the adventurers find several unmarked potions, as well as a hastily drank vial of what Roen immediately identifies as Crimson Essence, the materials to produce Crimson Essence, and a note from someone named ‘Balazar’. Tucking the potions, the note and the vial away, the adventurers continue to look for the Jade Hare. Draigh finds a key on the body of the sorcerer, as well as a red steel dagger. The key leads to a treasure room that is protected by a gargoyle! Dren shatters his sword on the creature’s hide, while Roxy’s blades cannot penetrate the skin. Draigh uses the red steel dagger to pierce the creature and, while it cries out, Roen finishes the creature before it can fell any of them. Along with the Jade Hare, the adventurers find a haul of coins and various treasures! The adventurers hastily return to Estoque to find elated townsfolk. The travelling merchant Yusif ibn Ahmad announces that today will be a celebration, and the inn keeper Ali whips up his greatest delicacies, while Yusif provides exotic spices for the food and some of his personal stock of tej (a style of mead).